WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's July 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal date is a "ramp," not a "cliff," national security adviser James Jones says.
Appearing Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Jones cautioned that the date will not mark a dramatic end to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, but merely the start of a process through which security responsibilities will be tranferred to Afghans after the United States completes a 30,000-troop surge against the country's insurgents.
"2011 is not a cliff, it's a ramp," Jones told CNN. "And it's when the effects of this increase will be, by all accounts, according to our military commanders and our senior civilians, where we will be able to see very, very visible progress and we'll be able to make a shift."
Stressing that the United States is looking through a prism of its long-term interests in South Asia, Jones said, "We're going to be in the region for a long time. We want this relationship to be, as we have with all struggling democracies, we want to be helpful. We want to transition from more of a purely military relationship to a civilian relationship."
